"Just my people. And I'm only half sildroher, really. My mother was a human witch. Her power presumably doesn't work through music." Not that Ulla's seen her birth mother since infancy, but she did meet her human half brother, who told her a tiny bit.

Ulla slithers down into the grotto as she continues, "But I was born with a tail and raised in the sea, and I sang my first spell before I learned to speak. I'm more sildroher than I am anything else."

The grotto walls are a glittering series of mosaics, painstakingly covered in pearl and iridescent shell and precious stones. Ocean currents lead into the shapes of branches, which then lead into the graceful arches of a many petaled flower. It took Ulla the better part of a month last year.

There are a few ledges around the cavern at appropriate heights to make good seats, if he'd like to make use of one.